Method and apparatus for controlling information scrolling on touch-screen

ABSTRACT

A method of controlling scrolling of contents provided in an electronic device including a touch screen and a scroll controlling region including a scroll pointer. The method includes sensing a touch on at a location in the scroll controlling region on the touch screen; sensing movement of the touch on to a location out of a scroll moving region on the touch screen; and changing a scrolling rate based on the sensed location out of the scroll moving region to control scrolling of the provided contents.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/409,858, filed Mar. 24, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,253,704 which claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2008-79038, filed Aug. 12, 2008 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Aspects of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus to control contents displayed on a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus to control information scrolling of data on a touch screen of a portable terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

Currently, portable terminals including a touch screen (such as personal digital assistants (PDA), portable multimedia players (PMP), MPEG audio layer-3 (MP3), and mobile phones) have been widely used. These portable terminals provide various contents including predetermined images, video signals, and/or audio signals.

In order to improve a users' convenience, the portable terminals include a graphical user interface (GUI), which includes a slider or a scroll bar to operate a contents display region. However, a technology to minutely adjust a content display region by using the slider or the scroll bar on a touch screen of the portable terminal is desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention provide a method and apparatus of controlling contents scrolling on a touch screen of a portable terminal.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen, the method including: displaying an information scroll controlling region on the touch screen; sensing a touch for a scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region and performing a dragging operation at a location of the touch on the touch screen; in response to a dragged location being out of a moving region of the scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region, changing the information scroll controlling region; and adjusting a location to display information in response to the changing of the information scroll controlling region.

The information scroll controlling region may be a scroll bar and/or a slider.

The sensing of the touch may include: in response to the touch being sensed on the touch screen, determining whether the touched location is in the scroll controlling region; and in response the touched location being in the scroll controlling region, generating a touch starting event.

The performing of the dragging operation may include: checking whether the touched location on the touch screen is in a scroll pointer region; in response to the touched location not being in the scroll pointer region, moving the scroll pointer to the touched location; and calculating a dragged direction and/or distance of the touch from the scroll pointer.

The performing of the dragging operation may include dragging and moving the scroll pointer simultaneously.

The changing of the information scroll controlling region may be performed in response the touched point on the scroll pointer being dragged from the touched location in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the scroll pointer or in a diagonal direction.

The changing of the information scroll controlling region may include expanding or reducing the scroll controlling region in proportion to the dragging distance of the touch.

The changing of the information scroll controlling region may include expanding a moving region of the scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region to the left and the right.

The changing of the information scroll controlling region may include changing a location and numerical values of standard values for the moving region of the scroll pointer in the scroll controlling region.

The changing of the information scroll controlling region may include expanding the information scroll controlling region to the left, right, upper and lower sides.

The changing of the information scroll controlling region may include setting an expansion region and a reduction region for the scroll controlling region in the upper and lower side of the touch screen, and expanding or reducing the scroll controlling region to a limit value, when the touched point on the scroll pointer is dragged to the expansion region or the reduction region.

The method may further include changing a location of the scroll pointer according to a finger performing dragging on the touch screen.

The method may further include moving the scroll pointer with an object performing dragging and representing the dragged location with a line on the touch screen.

The adjusting of the location for displaying information may include changing a location of information on the screen and/or information numerical value according to the change of the information scroll controlling region.

The method may further include returning the expanded or reduced scroll controlling region to an original scale when a termination of the touch is sensed on the touch screen.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling information scrolling, the apparatus including: a touch screen unit to display an information scroll controlling region and a scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region, and to sense a touch thereon; a control unit to detect the touch for the scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region displayed on the touch screen unit, to change the information scroll controlling region in response to the touch being dragged to be out of a moving region of the scroll pointer, and to adjust an information location according to the change of the information scroll controlling region.

The touch screen unit may include a graphic user interface to control the information scroll controlling region.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon a computer program for executing a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen, of a computing device, having an information scroll controlling region and a scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region, the method including: sensing a dragging touch in the information scroll controlling region; and in response to a dragged location of the dragging touch being out of a moving region of the scroll pointer in the information scroll controlling region, changing the information scroll controlling region.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIGS. 1A through 1D illustrate scroll bars according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B respectively illustrate a scroll bar and a slider displayed on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a moving of a scroll pointer on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an apparatus to control information scrolling on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a flowchart of a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A through 7D illustrate an expansion and a reduction of a scroll controlling region according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a displaying of a scroll pointer and a touched location according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIGS. 1A through 1D illustrate scroll bars according to embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1A, the scroll bar includes a scroll pointer 110 (which is also referred to as a thumb, a knob, or a scroll box) and a moving region 120 for the scroll pointer 110. FIG. 1B illustrates a scroll bar that has a different form from the scroll bar illustrated in FIG. 1A. Specifically, the scroll bar of FIG. 1B includes a base line 130 through which the scroll pointer 110 is moved. A scroll bar illustrated in FIG. 1D includes a left and right moving region. Thus, the scroll pointer 110 of FIG. 1C moves in a left or a right direction. Conversely, a scroll bar illustrated in FIG. 1C includes an upward and downward moving region. Thus, the scroll pointer 110 of FIG. 1D moves upward or downward.

FIGS. 2A and 2B respectively illustrate a scroll bar and a slider displayed on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2A, the scroll bar generally scrolls locations on a screen or times of a video or music application. Referring to FIG. 2B, the slider changes a numerical information value. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 2A, a view port region exists on a touch screen displaying the scroll bar and. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, a numerical value displaying region representing the numerical value corresponding to the slider exists on a touch screen displaying the slider.

FIG. 3 illustrates a moving of a scroll pointer 310 on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the scroll pointer 310 is touched by a finger (or a device such as a touch screen pen) on the touch screen and the scroll pointer 310 is moved from left to right by using the finger.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the current embodiment, a zoom-in operation is embedded in the scroll bar. Referring to FIG. 4, when a scroll controlling menu is activated in a terminal, an information scroll controlling region 410 is displayed on the touch screen 400 in the form of a scroll bar and/or a slider. The scroll bar including a scroll pointer 420 that moves left or right may be displayed on an upper portion, a lower portion, or a center of the touch screen 400.

While the scroll pointer 420 is touched by a finger (or a touch screen pen), a touched point on the touch screen 400 is dragged in a direction 430 perpendicular to the moving direction of the existing scroll pointer or in a diagonal direction. When the location of the scroll pointer 420 being dragged is out of the moving direction (or moving region) of the existing scroll bar and/or slider, a scroll controlling region is expanded or reduced. In this case, dragging upward and downward and scrolling left and right can be simultaneously performed. It is understood that the expansion of the scroll controlling region 410 is not limited to an upward dragging, and may be realized in various other ways according to other aspects of the present invention. For example, the expansion of the scroll controlling region 410 may be realized by a dragging in any moving direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the scroll controlling region 410 (i.e., if the moving direction of the scroll controlling region 410 is upward and downward, then a dragging in a left and/or a right moving direction will expand the scroll controlling region 410).

Thus, according to aspects of the present invention, a scale of scrolling is expanded or reduced by one touch on the touch screen 400. Thus, information display locations on the touch screen 400 may be precisely adjusted.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an apparatus to control information scrolling on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, the apparatus to control information scrolling includes a touch screen unit 510, a memory unit 520, an output unit 530, and a control unit 540.

The touch screen unit 510 displays image information and senses a touching and/or a dragging performed by a user via sensors that react to a pressure applied to a surface of the touch screen unit 510. A method of sensing a touch on the touch screen unit 510 is well known and may be a pressure type method or a capacitance type method. Also, the touch screen unit 510 includes a graphic user interface (GUI) to control an information scroll controlling region.

The memory unit 520 stores multimedia contents and a predetermined form of GUI information for scroll controlling. The output unit 530 reproduces the multimedia contents using a screen and a speaker, and/or outputs the multimedia contents to one or more external devices.

The control unit 540 performs touching and dragging operations according to a touch and a drag sensed by the touch screen unit 510, displays an information scroll controlling region having a predetermined form on the touch screen unit 510, senses the touch on a scroll pointer of the information scroll controlling region, and performs a dragging operation at the location being touched. Also, when the location being dragged is outside of the moving direction of the existing scroll pointer in the touch screen unit 510, the control unit 540 expands or reduces the information scroll controlling region and adjusts corresponding content, parameters, and/or information (for example, information location and numerical values) in response to the change to the information scroll controlling region. As described above, the information scroll controlling region may be expanded or reduced in various ways according to aspects of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a flowchart of a method of controlling information scrolling on a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B, when a scroll controlling menu is activated, the information scroll controlling region is displayed on the touch screen in the form of a scroll bar and/or a slider in operation 605. The information scroll controlling region may include the scroll pointer representing a current location on the screen and a scroll moving region. For example, assuming that a displayed content is a moving picture file, if the scroll pointer is located at a beginning of the information scroll controlling region, the start of the moving picture file is displayed on the viewport region. Conversely, if the scroll pointer is located at an end of the information scroll controlling region, the completion of the moving picture file is displayed on the viewport region.

When an object (such as at least one finger and a touch screen pen) contacts a specific region of the touch screen, the touch is sensed via a touch sensor in operation 610. Accordingly, when the touch on the touch screen is sensed, x and y coordinates of the touched point are calculated and the location of the touched point is detected in operation 615. Whether the touched location is in the scroll controlling region displayed on the touch screen is determined in operation 620.

When the touched location is determined to be in the scroll controlling region (operation 620), a touch starting event is generated in operation 625. Furthermore, when the touched location is determined to be in the scroll controlling region (operation 620), whether the touched location is the scroll pointer in the scroll controlling region is determined in operation 620. When the touched location is determined to not be the scroll pointer (operation 630), the scroll pointer is moved to the touched location and a location moving event is generated in operation 635.

Then, whether the location of the scroll pointer in the scroll controlling region is changed is determined in operation 640. When the location of the scroll pointer is determined to not be changed (operation 640), whether the touch is completed (for example, the finger or touch screen pen is removed from the touch screen) is determined in operation 645. As a result, when termination of the touch on the touch screen is sensed (operation 645), a touch completion event is generated. In this case, the scroll controlling region that is expanded or reduced at the time when the finger is lifted returns to an original scale (or magnification).

However, when the location of the scroll pointer is determined to be changed (operation 640), a dragging operation performed using the touch object is performed while the scroll pointer is being touched in operation 655. Specifically, if the dragging operation is generated, a direction and/or a distance of the location being dragged from the location of the scroll pointer are calculated. Whether the location of the dragged touched point is out of a scroll moving region is determined in operation 660. For example, whether the touched location is dragged in a direction perpendicular to the existing scroll moving direction (90 degrees) or in a diagonal direction is sensed.

When the dragged location is determined to be out of the scroll moving region of the scroll pointer (operation 660), the scroll controlling region is expanded or reduced in proportion to the distance being dragged. Here, in the scroll bar, dragging upward and downward and scrolling left and right can be simultaneously performed. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, assuming that a moving picture is being reproduced on the touch screen, the left side of the scroll controlling region is set to be the start of scrolling, the right side of the scroll controlling region is set to be the end of scrolling, and the dragging upward from the scroll controlling region is set to expand the scroll controlling region, when the touched point is dragged to the upper right side of the touch screen while the scroll pointer is touched by an object on the touch screen, the scroll controlling region is expanded and the playback position of the moving picture moves forward.

Also, according to aspects of the present invention, when the touched point is moved to both ends of the scroll controlling region in the expanded scroll controlling region, the location of the scroll pointer may not be moved while the scroll controlling region that is not displayed on the touch screen may be moved. Thus, the location of the content relating to the scroll controlling region is moved according to the scroll controlling region. As described above, the scroll controlling region may be expanded or reduced in various ways.

A location moving operation is performed in response to the change of the information scroll controlling region in operation 670. For example, the location of displayed information on the screen or numerical information values are adjusted according to the change of the expanded or reduced information scroll controlling region.

FIGS. 7A through 7D illustrate an expansion and a reduction of the scroll controlling region. Referring to FIG. 7A, a moving region of the scroll pointer is expanded to the left and to the right so that the scroll controlling region is expanded.

Referring to FIG. 7B, the standard values are set in the moving region of the scroll pointer. Here, while the moving region of the scroll pointer is expanded to the left and to the right, the location and numerical values of standard values for the moving region of the scroll pointer are changed so that the scroll controlling region is expanded. For example, gaps between the location and numerical values of the standard values are expanded. The standard values may be expressed in a character string.

Referring to FIG. 7C, the scroll controlling region is expanded by increasing the left, right, upper, and lower sides of the scroll controlling region. Also, the region of the scroll pointer is expanded. However, it is understood that aspects of the present invention are not limited thereto. For example, according to other aspects, the scroll controlling region is only expanded along one side, two sides, or three sides.

Referring to FIG. 7D, an expansion region 710 and a reduction region 720 for the scroll controlling region are set in the upper and lower side of the touch screen. When the touched point is dragged to the pre-set expansion region 710 or the reduction region 720, the scroll controlling region is expanded or reduced, respectively, to a limit value. Thus, when the object (for example, a finger or a touch screen pen) touches the added expansion region 710 or the added reduction region 720, the scroll controlling region is expanded or reduced, respectively.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a displaying of a scroll pointer 820 and 830 and a touched location 810 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8A, the location of the scroll pointer 820 and the touched location 810 that is being dragged are displayed on the touch screen. Referring to FIG. 8B, the scroll pointer 830 moves along with the object (for example, a finger) performing the dragging. The dragged location of the scroll pointer 830 is represented by a line 840 on the touch screen. Thus, a user may visually indentify the dragged location on the touch screen.

Aspects of the present invention can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Aspects of the present invention may also be realized as a data signal embodied in a carrier wave and comprising a program readable by a computer and transmittable over the Internet.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A method of controlling playback of multimedia contents on a touch screen of an electronic device, the method comprising: displaying an information scroll controlling bar and a scroll pointer on the touch screen, wherein the information scroll controlling bar and the scroll pointer are included in an information scroll controlling region, and the scroll pointer is movable at an original scrolling rate; sensing a touch at the scroll pointer on the touch screen; sensing a movement of the touch in a direction to a location outside the information scroll controlling region on the touch screen; setting a moving rate of the scroll pointer based on the sensed location outside the information scroll controlling region to control playback of multimedia contents, wherein the set moving rate is lower than the original moving rate; and moving the scroll pointer in a moving direction based on the direction of the movement.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scroll pointer indicates a playback position of a multimedia content.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the direction is substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the scroll pointer on the information scroll controlling bar.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether the touched location is in a scroll pointer region; and in response to determining the touched location not to be in the scroll pointer region, moving the scroll pointer to the touched location.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information scroll controlling bar is a single bar, and the scroll pointer is kept on the information scroll controlling bar.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the scroll controlling region is changed to another control region responsive to the sensed movement.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the movement of the touch in a different direction from the moving direction of the scroll pointer sets the moving rate while continuously touching on the touch screen.
 8. A method of controlling playback of multimedia contents provided in an electronic device having a touch screen, the method comprising: displaying a playback track region on the touch screen, the playback track region including a track bar and a track pointer movable at an original moving rate on the track bar in a first direction, wherein the playback track region is visibly distinguishable from a multimedia content display region and is smaller than the multimedia content display region in size; sensing a movement of a finger touch in a second direction from the track pointer to a location in the multimedia content display region, the location being outside the playback control region; and setting a moving rate of the track pointer based on the location on the touch screen, wherein the set moving rate is lower than the original moving rate, and the track pointer is used to move a playback position of a multimedia content.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the track bar is a single track bar, and the track pointer is kept on the track bar.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second direction is substantially perpendicular to the first direction.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the moving rate is one of a plurality of different rates, the plurality of different rates corresponding to a plurality of different moved locations, respectively.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the setting of the moving rate is proportional to a distance in relation with the location on the touch screen.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the second direction is extending diagonally from the track pointer.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising changing the moving rate of the track pointer on the track bar and placing the track pointer on a different position on the track bar based on a distance and a direction of the movement of the finger touch.
 15. The method of claim 8, wherein the first direction and the second direction form a non-perpendicular angle.
 16. The method of claim 8, wherein after a first moving rate of the track pointer on the track bar is changed to a second moving rate of the track pointer on the track bar, the track bar corresponds to an entire portion of the multimedia content.
 17. A method of controlling playback of multimedia contents provided in an electronic device having a touch screen, the method comprising: displaying a playback track bar and a track pointer on the playback track bar on the touch screen, wherein the track pointer indicates a playback position of a multimedia content, and wherein the track pointer is movable at a first scrolling rate while a touch on the track pointer is dragged along the playback track bar; sensing a dragging of the touch on the touch screen from the track pointer to a location outside the playback track bar, wherein the track pointer is kept on the playback track bar; and moving the track pointer on the playback track bar at a second scrolling rate if the touch on the touch screen is dragged from the location, wherein the second scrolling rate is lower than the first scrolling rate and is dependent at least partly upon a distance of the location from the playback track bar.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second scrolling rate is proportional to the distance in relation with the dragged location on the touch screen.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the track pointer being placed on a first end portion of the track bar corresponds to a playback start of the multimedia content, and the track pointer being placed on a second end portion of the track bar corresponds to a playback end of the multimedia content.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the touch screen comprises a capacitive touch screen.
 21. An apparatus to control playback of multimedia contents, comprising: a touch screen to display a playback track region, the playback track region including a track bar and a track pointer movable at an original moving rate on the track bar in a first direction, wherein the playback track region is visibly distinguishable from a multimedia content display region and is smaller than the multimedia content display region in size; and a controller to sense a movement of a finger touch in a second direction from the track pointer to a location in a multimedia content display region, the location being outside the playback control region, and to set a moving rate of the track pointer based on the location on the touch screen, wherein the set moving rate is lower than the original moving rate, and the track pointer is used to move a playback position of a multimedia content.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the track bar is a single track bar, and the track pointer is kept on the track bar.
 23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the second direction is substantially perpendicular to the first direction.
 24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the moving rate is one of a plurality of different rates, the plurality of different rates corresponding to a plurality of different moved locations, respectively.
 25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the moving rate is proportional to a distance in relation with the location on the touch screen.
 26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the second direction is extending diagonally from the track pointer.
 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the moving rate of the track pointer on the track bar is changed and the track pointer is placed on a different position on the track bar based on a distance and a direction of the movement of the finger touch.
 28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first direction and the second direction form a non-perpendicular angle.
 29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein after a first moving rate of the track pointer on the track bar is changed to a second moving rate of the track pointer on the track bar, the track bar corresponds to an entire portion of the multimedia content. 